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this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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Are there crypto scams? yes, and plenty of them. Can you buy drugs with them? sure (and I thinks that's great!) Do either of the above statements get at the core issue here? not at all.
The issue here is not with the crypto itself. The issue here is the same issue that is regularly a problem anywhere software is deployed, digital security. The take away here is that many (all?) crypto exchanges are failing to properly secure their systems. Which is why the general rule that anybody investing in crypto should follow is never keep crypto in an exchange wallet unless you plan on trading it in the very short term. As an extension of that rule, you should never keep your crypto in a wallet that you don't hold the private keys for. If you don't have the private key for the wallet, it's not your wallet. Not your wallet, not your crypto.
I have never really understood exchanges tbh. Centralizing decentralized currency feels like getting the downsides of normal money/investments with fewer of the benefits.
It's so the lambs can pretend to own "stock" in crypto therefore defeating the whole purpose of cryptocurrencies. And then it gets shorted and margined and bulshitted..
I don’t think that was an attack on your knowledge, but rather a disclaimer for other readers. I could be wrong, though!
It wasn't meant as a lecture for you. I made no assumptions about what you know, just what you said. The lecture was for others coming by your comment because lots of people don't know the dangers of keeping crypto in exchange wallets.
Apologies if I offended you.
When your adversary is a nation-state with an actual army of hackers that can work 24/7 and deploy 0-days, it's hard to say for sure the exchange is at fault for not handling security properly. This isn't a lone Kevin Mitnick pulling a stunt, this is literal cyber warfare.
Yet conventional currencies are not randomly having billions transfered out of accounts and to north korea?
i feel the issue is with crypto
Ok, thanks!
I would say it is specifically a problem with crypto, i addition to what you said.
you wouldn't be able to do the above with a bank. They'd just make the transaction not to have happened.
with crypto, e.g. btc, you'd have to convince 2-3 of the big mining pools to undo the transction, so random private actors. and it undo all other transactions done as well.
maybe that it happens is not due to crypto. That it cant be remedied is certainly because crypto.
No, in almost all cases they simply create another transfer to reverse it. If another bank is involved, they typically pay a fee to that bank to do it.
Source: I work in fintech. I've seen plenty of messes the banks clean up this way.
Yes that's what I mean. But with crypto, not being able to reverse a transaction is one of the main features and makes this kind of thing immensely easier.
Banks can and certainly have lost large amounts to bad actors who were prepared enough to immediately move the money around and clean it, like what was done in this case.
Doesn't really happen these days anymore. Banks have tons of risk checks these days and will usually hold any influx or outflux or money to other accounts.
And even then, banks have rules for how to deal with transfers that shouldn't have happened. In most cases, these transfers would be reversed (for a fee).